LIFE ISSUES: Slow but steady rollback of US abortion industry

by Bill Muehlenberg

News Weekly, August 3, 2013

In the United States, we keep seeing the slow but steady rollback of the abortion industry. Clinics are closing, doctors are quitting or being charged with criminal offences, and pro-life legislation is being passed in various states.

The most recent victory comes from Texas, where the state’s Senate has just passed House Bill 2, which would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The bill now simply awaits signing by Governor Rick Perry.

Despite the frenzied pro-death protestors screaming “Hail Satan!”, and despite the jars of urine and faeces that police confiscated from the pro-death crowd, the bill restricting abortion was just passed (LifeNews.com, July 12; and USA Today, July 13, 2013).

Yes, they actually did scream “Hail Satan!”. Yes, they actually did utter blasphemies that are unprintable in a family publication like News Weekly. And, yes, they actually did collect their own excrement to throw at pro-lifers.

They really are a lovely bunch, aren’t they? But despite all this demonic hate and rage, the bill has gone through.

It certainly did not ban all abortions, but did put some restrictions on them in Texas. As one Texan news outlet reported, “House Bill 2 would require doctors to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals, allow abortions only in surgical centres, limit where and when women may take abortion-inducing pills and ban abortions after 20 weeks. Only five out of 42 existing abortion clinics meet the requirements to be a surgical centre, and clinic owners say they can’t afford to upgrade or relocate” (The Monitor, Texas, July 11, 2013).

It was a tough and gruelling battle, with the pro-death Democrats and their supporters using every trick in the book, including every diabolical trick imaginable, to prevent its passage. But it got through nonetheless. I previously wrote about this dramatic battle and the clash of worldviews behind it on my website, CultureWatch (July 4, 2013).

So we have another win. Of course, none of us can rest until all baby-killing is stopped, but it is always good when at least some deaths can be prevented. And, as mentioned, this is simply part of a string of victories. The pro-life cause is on a roll, and the pro-death camp is certainly not happy about it.

That explains why they are getting so appallingly ugly and nasty. They know they are losing, and that simply infuriates them. So expect things to get even more disgusting and evil as the pro-aborts go all out to keep baby-killing alive and well (no pun intended).

He begins: “I wonder if the editorial staff at the Huffington Post regrets the site’s recent poll on abortion? Because it certainly doesn’t support the narrative that sees the Gosnells of the world as an aberration. Apparently, the American people don’t like late-term abortion by a pretty overwhelming amount, despite what the radical fringe on the left would have you believe” (CatholicVote.org, July 14, 2013).

The left-wing Huffington Post said this recently: “Most Americans would favour sweeping new national restrictions on abortion after the 20th week of pregnancy…. By a margin of 59 per cent to 30 per cent, respondents to the new poll said they would favour a federal law banning abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy” (Huffington Post, July 11, 2013).

Cecile Richards

Skojec continues, discussing how the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA)’s president, Cecile Richards (who is also a member of the Democratic Party), couldn’t explain the difference between what convicted abortionist Kermit Gosnell did (i.e., killing newborn infants) and what we find at run-of-the-mill late-term abortion mills.

He quoted a report, which said: “Though there was plenty of time for [Cecile] Richards to answer the questions as she walked toward a U.S. Senate office building, she remained silent after her aide tried to cut off questioning” (Weekly Standard, July 11, 2013).

Skojec comments: “This is what a losing battle looks like, folks. Oh, the road to victory is long, and I expect it may get worse before it gets better — we have a government that couldn’t care less about the consent of the governed after all — but the American people are, I hope, finally waking up.

“When people begin really pushing back on late-term abortions, it’s going to be a lot easier to impose restrictions and enhance the definitions of personhood.

“With the ongoing advances in medical technology and the occasional success of ultrasound-before-abortion legislation, science is going to have nothing to offer the baby bloodlust crowd. They’re going to have to stand on their Mengelean defences of how sometimes, hey, you just have to cut up a baby for the common good. (Yes, such defences exist in the public sphere, though they aren’t really warming up the abortion lobby’s PR arm.)”

He discusses some everyday pro-life heroes, and then concludes, “This is the other thing that the pro-life cause has that will help turn the tide: heroes. The heroic people who pray at abortion clinics and save young women from making the worst decision of their lives. The heroic legislators who fight to pass laws restricting abortion, no matter how much political capital it may cost them.

“The heroic families willing to take on a Down’s Syndrome baby on zero notice just to save a life, many of whom already have no few children of their own. The heroic priest who arranged to make this happen and found a solution with no time to do it. His heroic father, who died in an unimaginable way to save his own Down’s Syndrome child.

“Show me the heroes of the abortion movement. Show me their selflessness. Show me the sacrifices they’ve made. Show me what they’ve done to inspire conversion, dedication, or love.

“Victory is inevitable. We are on a slow, excruciating crawl toward victory. But it is progress nonetheless. I’m proud to be on the winning side. Keep praying. Keep fighting.”

I cannot add much more to that. We are winning. We are making real gains here. Yes it is a hard, long slog, but we must never give up. We owe it to the unborn to keep fighting.

What William Wilberforce said about the slave trade we can equally say of the baby-killing trade: “Never, never will we desist till we … extinguish every trace of this bloody traffic, of which our posterity, looking back to the history of these enlightened times, will scarce believe that it has been suffered to exist so long a disgrace and dishonour to this country.”

Bill Muehlenberg is a commentator on contemporary issues, and lectures on ethics and philosophy. His website CultureWatch is at: www.billmuehlenberg.com